/ Raspberry Pi

Where does he get those wonderful toys?

I am a lucky, lucky lad. Companies send me samples of unreleased kit to play with and in the last couple of weeks I have been playing with three very special bits of Raspberry Pi kit.

Kano

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Kano is a Raspberry Pi powered kit that comes with a series of workbooks and projects aimed at children. Using a scheme of experiential learning, where children experience setting up and using the kit, children can build games using Python and Scratch. Learn how to use the GPIO pins via a simple speaker project, and watch Youtube videos via a special player.

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The kit is highly stylised and uses colour coding to quickly identify the included components which include a lovely orange keyboard with integrated trackpad.

I'm currently writing a review for a future Linux Format so keep a look out for it.

MoPi

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MoPi by Hamish Cunningham is a fantastic add on board that enables the Raspberry Pi to work with a multitude of different power sources. Priced at £25 MoPi is ideally priced for cheap outdoor battery powered projects. I had a great time powering my Raspberry Pi Model B using a 9V battery, it event powered my WIFI dongle, using this setup you could easily build a nefarious network scanner and install it into an office's false ceiling...not that I would do that of course.

Hover

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Hover is a gesture controller for the Raspberry Pi, Arduino and Spark Core development boards. It utilises an electrical field that senses gestures, and has touchpoints around it's perimeter. It's a great little gadget and really accessible no matter what level of skill you may have.

Within an hour I had made a quick interface for a music player.

I've reviewed both of these boards for Linux Voice so keep an eye out for my full review and the all important score.